First Judo Comp - Vids

After doing Judo on and off for several years, I finally entered a competition.
Last weekend was the Konan Rank Evaluation Shiai in Lansing, MI. The tournament was broke into three weight divisions (light, medium, and heavy). and three skill divisions (yonkyu-down, sankyu-nikyu, and Ikkyu-up). I fought in the middleweight yonkyu-down division. There were three other people in this division.
All competitors wore either a white or blue belt, so I have no idea what the rank of the people I was facing was.
It seems that my on and off years of Judo have served me well, because I took first, winning both matches by Ippon.

Anyways, reflections:
-Judo tournaments are more fun than I thought they'd be. I always hated the amount of referee interference in karate matches, and I thought that would make Judo kind of a pain too. It was a bit annoying to get stood up while having a choke sunk in, but so it goes.
-I should work on landing position with my ura-nage.
-Hansokumake rules are wiiiiiiieeerd. Fortunately, I rarely go for leg attacks in the first place, so it didn't really affect my game.

Other than that, I noticed that the matte in groundwork looked a little quick, and that in the second match you appeared passive until your blitzkrieg that defeated him. Then again, I'm not a referee, so who cares what I think.

Have you tried tani-otoshi instead of ura-nage?

What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. -Xenophon's Socrates

Other than that, I noticed that the matte in groundwork looked a little quick, and that in the second match you appeared passive until your blitzkrieg that defeated him. Then again, I'm not a referee, so who cares what I think.

Have you tried tani-otoshi instead of ura-nage?

In that second match, where I don't seem to be attacking; I doing pushing on him a little bit to try and get him to push back, and see if I could get enough momentum for another tomoe nage. He wasn't giving me as much as the first guy, but it still sort of worked in the end.
I'll usually switch to tani otoshi if the guy I'm fighting is too much of a fatass to ura nage effectively.

1. You are leaning back on your Tomoe rather than sliding under Uke; work on that.

2. As much as possible, keep them face up when you choke them so EVERYONE can see you are choking him.

3. You need to "pop" your hips on your Ura nage, and then turn face down to put them on their back better. The new rule ends using Te guruma which has a much better ippon rate, or did.

Good work, I'd keep you in that division but make you a green belt.

"Out of every hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back." -- Hericletus, circa 500 BC

However, I would not count on the ref to decide if I "stopped" the attack enough "before" I used Te Guruma. You are going to be grabbing the leg, often the pants, below the waist. The rule does say that is a no-no.

We are starting so see You Tube Video of the rule enforced. Yes, you will counter with "those are bad calls," but Ben the calls were made and they stood. A loss is a loss, and a bad call makes it worse.

As such, it is simply too risky to attempt such a move under the new rules, not if winning is important. And if it isn't, then why keep score?

"Out of every hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back." -- Hericletus, circa 500 BC

in my dojo we are being told to simply not grab the legs anymore at all (other than in newaza) for the reasons outlined by coach tripp. it is really too bad, and a deplorable situation, but one that i fear we are stuck with.

"Face punches are an essential character building part of a martial art. You don't truly love your children unless you allow them to get punched in the face." - chi-conspiricy
"When I was a little boy, I had a sailor suit, but it didn't mean I was in the Navy." - Mtripp on the subject of a 5 year old karate black belt
"Without actual qualifications to be a Zen teacher, your instructor is just another roundeye raping Asian culture for a buck." - Errant108
"Seriously, who gives a **** what you or Errant think? You're Asian males, everyone just ignores you, unless you're in a krotty movie." - new2bjj